Monday, February 13, 2017

Leesburg Center of the Arts

This is the Leesburg Center of the Arts where I went last Friday as I consider joining the league. We live close to a few city art leagues which include Eustis and Mount Dora. I want to check each out to see which I might want to become more involved with.

Here at the Leesburg Art Center they have what's called Open Fridays where members can meet at the facility to informally get together and work on their artwork with each others' company. Some will work on crafts as well and share with anyone interested the how-tos in making various things.

This Friday, Shari Williams, was sharing how to make imprints on watercolor paper that one could use as covers to make their own journals. In searching the web, it looks like this process is called "Boiled Books" or "Eco Printing."

The idea is to lay flowers, leaves, seed pods, etc. onto the watercolor paper and then press between metal plates and tie together. Then place in a boiling pot of vinegar water (about a cup of vinegar) for about an hour and a half (I've also seen where some will go up to 3 hours of simmering in a pot).

Shari stacked several of these layers between metal plates using twine to tie the stacks together. Tight enough to hold everything in place but not so tight that the vinegar solution couldn't penetrate all paper layers. I've also learned that you can add a little Ritz Dye to the water by watching a video by "wickedmessenger1" on Youtube.

4 comments:

What a great sketch of the center! I felt like I was right there!!! Super Duper.And what an interesting idea that Sheri demonstrated. I want to see what it looks like when it is done.If it had to boil so long, did you get to see the results?

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About Me

Art hobbyist / sketcher / watercolorist who loves sharing with the hopes it might encourage others in their journey with sketching and painting.
Started out 30 plus years ago painting in acrylic on wood, glass, and metal surfaces until I was introduced to watercolor in 1991. A medium I fell in love with immediately.
Over the past few years, I have been drawn into Pen and Ink as well as the Art of Journaling or keeping an Artist's Journal which is my new love!
Expanding my horizons a bit, I've been playing with digital sketching as well.